Steig Larsson's Books

I just finished the first of the 3: "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." I will read the second one just because I have it since a friend gave it to me, but I don't know about the third. I realize this is the hottest thing since "Inception" and that EVERYONE has read them, but... I don't get it.

Honestly, I could have walked away from the book at any point. It was obvious to me from the beginning of the Vanger family story that Harriet was still alive and well somewhere. The sexual torture and brutality (always, always, always inflicted by men on women) has gotten really old with me as I have gotten really old. Isn't there any other way, other than extreme victimization, to make a female character's back-story interesting? The rest of the Dragon Tattoo story was as overwrought as a tangle of wild brambles. It could have stood a whole lot of pruning in my estimation.

The most interesting part of the book for me, maybe the only interesting part, is that it's set in Sweden, so you get a look at a different culture, a different way of life, a different climate. I almost always enjoy reading authors from other countries translated into English just for that experience.

So, I've read it. I'm no longer the only person on earth who hasn't. I'll even proceed on to the Played with Fire book and pray that Ms. Salander becomes a more interesting woman with a greater claim to fame than sexual victimization and Asberger's.